


Oops

by huffellepuff



Category: She Loves Me - Bock/Harnick/Masteroff
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-07-13
Updated: 2016-07-13
Packaged: 2018-07-23 17:44:56
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/7473738
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/huffellepuff/pseuds/huffellepuff
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Prompt:  Georg and Amalia's fight in the shop leads to an unexpected kiss.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Oops

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Stereotypicality](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Stereotypicality/gifts).



> For the prompt I have taken to calling an "oops kiss," this happened. :)

Amalia was feeling optimistic as she walked out of the workroom. In just a few short hours, she would be meeting Dear Friend, and nothing could ruin her mood - not even Mr. Nowack, whom she ran into immediately upon exiting. She tried to walk past him, but he gently placed his hand on her arm to stop her, causing her skin to tingle and her heart to beat just a little bit faster. The man was so insufferable that even a nudge from him was enough to set her off lately.

“While I have you all here,” he started, letting go of her arm, “Mr. Maraczek wants everyone to stay late tonight.”

“Why?” she replied as panic set in. Why _tonight_ of all nights?

“To work on the Christmas decorations, alright?” As usual, he seemed unreasonably annoyed with her.

“Mr. Nowack,” she began, attempting to be civil. It was at least _possible_ he’d be reasonable if she could manage that. “Mr. Nowack, I can’t stay.”

“Why?” he asked incredulously.

“I’ve got a date, you _know_ I’ve got a date.” The _nerve_ of him, acting like this was unimportant.

“I know no such thing,” he laughed, and her attempts at civility vanished.

“How can you _say_ that? Why do you think I’m wearing these new clothes? To trim a tree in?” she asked.

“I’m only following Mr. Maraczek’s instructions,” he sighed, looking tired.

“I can’t stay,” she said, horrified to hear the desperation creeping into her voice.

“You are not being very cooperative, Miss Balash,” he said, giving her an infuriating look.

“Well, why did he have to pick _this one night_?” she asked before an awful possibility occurred to her. “Or did you pick it, Mr. Nowack? Because you knew I had an appointment?”

Just then a customer finished their purchase, and they rushed to see them out. She could not believe that he would do anything quite so underhanded as going out of his way to ruin her date.

“You know, I find it quite depressing that anyone could hate me that much,” she snarled as soon as the customer had gone.

“I do not hate you, Miss Balash!” he said in exasperation. “But until you came here, this was a happy, peaceful place. Now, the whole atmosphere’s changed. Everyone’s cranky, Mr. Maraczek’s on the warpath…”

“That’s not _my_ fault!” she replied with confusion.

“The Mona Lisa’s coming out the wrong end of the tubes!” he snapped.

“And _that’s_ not my fault!” she yelled back before realizing that it actually could be. “Is it?”

“You’ve been filling them!”

“According to _your_ instructions!” she replied, feeling triumphant.

“Well, let’s not argue about it now,” he said, offering his hand, “Can we have a truce?”

“Anytime, Mr. Nowack.” She took his hand and once again felt the electricity that she tried so hard to ignore. Angry that he caused this ridiculous response in her, she continued, “After all, you’re the one who always starts things.”

“Oh, _I’m_ the one?” he growled without letting go of her hand.

“You’ve always resented me, from the very first day I came here, when I made you lose that bet to Mr. Maraczek,” she said, frustrated that he was still holding on when her skin was betraying her. “For ten-and-six, wasn’t it? To think that anyone could hate me so much, just for ten-and-six!”

“That’s nonsense!” he exclaimed, letting go of her abruptly.

“Or was it your male pride that was wounded?,” she added, intending to be cruel. “Because I went over your head? Men always do seem to resent things like that.”

“I do not resent you, Miss Balash,” he sighed.

“Oh yes you do,” she smirked.

“Oh, for heaven’s sake, I do not resent you! I…” he trailed off, suddenly pulling her near. Before she knew it, his lips were on hers.

Amalia wished she could say that her initial reaction was to step back and slap him, as would have been reasonable. Unfortunately, her traitorous body apparently did not listen to reason, and she couldn’t help but to lean into the kiss. She had thought her response to his hand touching hers was bad enough, but now? Every inch of her was on fire. His hands were on her hips, and without realizing it she had slipped her arms around his neck.

The kiss was broken as suddenly as it had started. Georg quickly removed his hands from her hips and stepped back. She let her arms fall, ending all contact between them except for the panicked looks they were exchanging.

As she caught her breath, the shock of what had just happened faded into the awareness of where it had happened. Not only had she just been kissed by _Georg Nowack_ (and admittedly kissed him right back), but she had done this kissing in the middle of _Maraczek’s_. It seemed that Georg had had the same thought as her, and they both looked around the room, registering the stunned silence from their coworkers.

“Oh,” she said, her voice barely a whisper, returning her gaze to Georg. “Oh my.”

“I…” he began.

“I need to go,” she interrupted, moving past him and towards the ladies room to compose herself.

 

 

How could she have let that happen? Sure, she couldn’t have stopped him from kissing her, but she didn’t have to respond to it like she did. And on today of all days! She was going to meet Dear Friend tonight, her true love, and here she was kissing another man! And enjoying it, too. That was the worst part - not only did she kiss him back, but she did so enthusiastically. Nothing could have prepared her for the fact that she would find his kiss so thrilling, that she would feel it all the way down to her toes…

How was she supposed to go meet Dear Friend _now_?

She was interrupted from her thoughts by the door opening.

“Amalia?” Ilona called in tentatively. “Are you alright?”

“No,” Amalia sighed, tears welling in her eyes.

“Oh, Amalia, sweetie,” Ilona came in and hugged her.

“I don’t know what happened. Today was supposed to be so special, and Mr. Nowack ruined everything.”

“Well… he wasn’t exactly the only one involved.”

“I know…” Amalia said miserably. “I should have just ignored him, I shouldn’t have gotten into the argument, but he makes me so crazy!”

“Well, true, you didn’t have to argue, but that’s not what I meant,” Ilona said, giving her a knowing look.

“Ilona!” She feigned indignation in order to hide her guilt over that very fact.

“Amalia, please.” Ilona rolled her eyes. “I’ve seen kisses where someone doesn’t want it, and I’ve seen kisses where both people want it very much. That was definitely the second one.”

Amalia blushed, embarrassed that everyone saw (and apparently saw through) her moment of weakness.

“It actually kind of makes sense, when you think about it,” Ilona began.

“How?!”

“Well, I’ve never understood you two hating each other so much, because you’re both usually such lovely people, and so alike. I just wrote it off as you being too alike, but that still never fully fit,” she said, a grin growing on her face.

“Mr. Nowack and I, _alike_?” Amalia scoffed.

“Oh hush, all those books and music you talk about, he’s exactly the same. And you’re both romantics, almost insufferably so. _Anyway_ , it’s not that you’re so alike that you clash, but that you two are obviously dripping with sexual tension and just too awkward to know what to do with it!” Ilona grinned at her.

“Ilona!” she replied, not needing to fake her indignation this time. “How can you say that?!”

She gave her a sympathetic look. “Fine, let’s say that’s all wrong. Tell me about the kiss.”

“What...what do you mean?” Amalia asked nervously.

“Well, what did you feel? And be honest.”

“I...I…” She tried to say she felt nothing, but she couldn’t bring herself to lie. “Oh, Ilona, it was incredible. I hate myself for saying it, for _feeling_ it, but it was. I’ve never felt anything like that before, the way his hands felt so _right_ on my hips, or…”

“Sexual. Tension,” Ilona said with a smirk.

“I’m so embarrassed,” Amalia said, hiding her burning face in her hands, as appalled by her own words as the ringing truth of Ilona’s.

“There’s no reason to be embarrassed, Amalia,” she said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “You’re only human.”

“But I’ve spent so much time thinking about the man from the letters, loving him, and all this time I’ve been stifling my attraction to Mr. Nowack,” she sighed. “Because I have to admit that you might be right. From the moment I walked into Maraczek’s, I was attracted to him, but then he was so mean and I just… chose to ignore it and be mean right back.”

“Oh, your date!” Ilona said, a look of realization dawning on her face. “I forgot about that. Oh, no wonder you’re such a mess over this! What are you going to do?”

“Well, I think I’m going to have to go talk to Mr. Nowack, who....” she trailed off. “Oh my, I’ve been so busy thinking about my part in this whole thing, I didn’t even think about the fact that he initiated it! What if he’s...”

“In love with you?” Ilona asked. “Well, would that be the worst thing in the world? I don’t know if he is, or if he’s just as oblivious as you are, but it might not be such a bad idea. You even said you’re attracted to him, and he’s a good man, Amalia.”

“But he hasn’t been a good man to me, not that I’ve really encouraged him to be, but still, it’s not like I even know him beyond the fighting,” she rambled. “But more importantly, I’m in love with someone else! How could I even think of returning Mr. Nowack’s theoretical affections?”

“I don’t know, but you’ve got to do something. I need to get back to work, and you’re going to need to leave the ladies’ room and face Georg eventually. Good luck,” she said, giving Amalia a quick hug and leaving.

 

 

 

 

After Ilona left, Amalia tried to decide on a game plan. She couldn’t just give up on Dear Friend, so whether Mr. Nowack did have feelings for her (and whether she, in some part, returned them) or if he went back to being as antagonistic as usual, she had to talk to him and try to create a peace. Ignore him if he fought her on it, let him down easily if he did have feelings. Clearly, interacting with Mr. Nowack was a bad idea, and they would just have to learn how to minimize interaction at work - particularly anything physical.

She took a deep breath, walked out of the ladies’ room, and ran directly into Mr. Nowack, who had been pacing in the workroom. She jumped back, startled by the physical contact she had just promised herself to avoid.

“Miss Balash!” he said, panic on his face. “I am so sorry, I was waiting to talk to you, I shouldn’t have been standing there, I swear I didn’t mean anything, I-”

“It’s okay, Mr. Nowack, that was an accident,” she cut him off and smiled, unable to help herself from noticing he was kind of cute when he was flustered. She _really_ needed to set those boundaries. “But you’re right, we do need to talk.”

“I’m sorry, Miss Balash, for what happened out there,” he said earnestly. “I was way, way out of line, I don’t know what happened, and…”

“Apology accepted, Mr. Nowack,” she said, preparing herself to let him down easily. “I think the best thing for us to do is just to ignore it and move on. I did want to say, though, if you do have feelings for me -”

“Oh, oh, no! It wasn’t like that, I don’t have feelings for you Miss Balash. I mean, not that you’re not a very attractive girl! You are! I’ve always thought so,” he said, appearing more panicked with each word. “But that doesn’t mean anything! You have nothing to worry about, I’m actually very much in love with someone else, a wonderful woman I’ve been corresponding with for months, she writes such beautiful letters.”

“Letters?” Amalia asked weakly, an absurd possibility dawning on her.

“Yes, letters! I know some people think it’s strange, but truly, what better way to get to know someone’s heart?” he continued, still flustered as he pulled a letter - _her_ letter - from his pocket. “Oh, if I could but show you what she’s written, you wouldn’t worry at all about me having feelings for you - which I don’t - because tonight I’m meeting her and honestly I’ll probably be engaged by tomorrow and -”

Without thinking about it, Amalia had pulled him by the lapels and was once again kissing him. He seemed surprised, but quickly began responding in kind. In a matter of seconds, everything that had felt so wrong about the day seemed right. The reason she felt like this when she kissed Georg was because she _should_ be kissing Georg. As his arms wrapped around her, she felt like there was nowhere else in the world she would rather be. It wasn’t until they pulled apart for a moment and she saw the confused look on his face that she realized that he still didn’t know. She loosened her grip on his jacket and stepped back.

“Miss Balash…” he said hesitantly.

“Oh, Georg,” she said, smiling up at him. “My _Dear Friend_ , I love you too.”

“D-Dear Friend…?” he asked, a small smile growing on his face.

“Yes,” she laughed. “I’m pretty amazed, to be honest, but yes.”

He pulled her close again, and this time, there was no reason to stop until they couldn’t hold back their grins any longer.

**Author's Note:**

> I'm at amaliabalash.tumblr.com, please yell about these dorks with me.


End file.
